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Welcome to the thread about Android! If this thread is sparse or doesn't contain the answer to your questions about an ancient phone or device, please check out the old thread— or just post, we need new blood. Official site: https://www.android.com/ Android has changed a lot over the years. The broad strokes, however, have not: What is Android? Android is an open-source-ish operating system based on Linux and advanced by Google to be used in mobile devices. This primarily means phones, but can include cameras, tablets, refrigerators... really any "smart" device with a touchscreen is likely to have some flavour of Android on it unless it's an iOS or Tizen device. What is this thread about? This thread is for the discussion of all devices Android, but because the popularity of smartphones is so high: you're probably gonna see a lot of phone discussion here. What should I post here? Anything about Android or Android devices, really. There are, of course other threads if you have more specific questions, such as the Recommend me a phone/plan and Recommend me a Tablet threads. However, sometimes decision-making requires more information-gathering. Ask questions, especially if they're what you think are stupid ones! They may help someone else later. Definitely post interesting information, reviews, or anything that might help a fellow poster understand the lay of the Android lands. Again, we're looking to archive information that can help thine fellow goon. Let's keep the spirit of the old thread alive as best we can. Thread rules: General forum and subform rules apply, but especially "don't be a dong about phones." Just because you think someone wasted their money doesn't change the fact that it's in the past. Be helpful where you can, shut up if all you can offer is being a jerk. Make use of existing resources: There are quite a few good threads about Android on SA and elsewhere. Don't get all your info from IYG! That said, here are some SA resources to get you started. - Awful app (SA forum threadreader) - SA Tablet Thread - SA app thread - SA Android games thread - Google Play Mr. Mercury fucked around with this message at 15:10 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 06:30
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Frequently asked questions about Android: Should I root my device? Probably not. The reasons you'd root your device in the before times was to fix broken poo poo with the phones. That's less necessary now! For a practical litmus test, take a look at the rooting thread. Ghost town. What is the Android ecosystem like in 2023? There are tons of phones on the market that you can choose from, some with wildly different features than others, and some better than others. Main thrust here is that Android's open-source nature means there's tons of manufacturers and different flavors of the OS. I cannot recommend reading reviews and other online content about phones on the market strongly enough. These articles will broadly go over why each phone is worth your attention, and give you potential dealbreakers to consider. Additionally, they can help you find specifications that are hidden on manufacturer sites, and they can help you compare phones directly. Don't look at the scores, and definitely don't give a poo poo about rankings lists. Smartphones—especially Android phones—have come so far as to have very minor differences performance-wise, and the yearly upgrade cycle is pure insanity. In general though, Samsung makes the popular phones, but Google's Pixel line is the one that moves the basics around what Android is — and where it's going. Look to the Pixel if you want the latest stock Android updates. There are also new kinds of phones to be aware of: Normal brick phones: These are your bog-standard bricks that you're used to seeing everywhere. They're defined by being flat and rectangle-like, with features like a USB-C port, camera arrays, and an ever-upgrading list of specs crammed into a tiny glass chassis. Foldables: Because OLED screen tech doesn't rely on a static assembly of backlights and liquid crystals to change what's on your screen, we now have foldable phones. These can vary wildly in size, shape, and function, but the basics are the same. There's almost always a main hinge, primary and secondary displays, and numerous durability concerns. There are some phones with the primary screen as the foldable display (Motorola RAZR reboot), and there are others with the secondary display, albeit the larger one, as the screen that folds. Whichever screen is the one that folds will eventually develop a crease, unless the display does not use a hinge. Also, fight the urge to pull that thin plastic film on the display off. Unless it has a tab that's actually a protector that will kill your screen if you remove it so... be careful. What phones should I look at to buy? For specific recommendations, you're going to want to post in the Recommend me a phone/plan thread. Because the release schedules are so friggin ephemeral, let's just talk lines of phones instead of individual models. Asus: ROG Phone - this line of phones uses absolutely ridiculous batteries and the latest chipsets available to them. As "ROG" stands for "Republic of Gamers," that should clue you in on the intended audience. Huge phones. Zenfone - this line of phones are meant to be more budget-friendly but still powerful. Fairphone (numbered) - These phones are modular and allow hardware customization, for a price. Decent, if spendy Pixel - The most important line of phones in Android, these represent what the big G wants out of their OS. Every time a Pixel is released, it gives a glimpse into where Android is headed, and these phones often have the newest features first... outside of those developed by other manufacturers, of course. Pixel a-series - This is the Pixel, but on toned-down hardware. Usually the best buy for the money if you want a decent phone but don't need the latest-and-greatest Pixel Pro - Google's high-end entry, 6.7" screen, Tensor G2, and aluminum chassis Pixel Fold - This one's new so we'll see how long it lasts. Flagship hardware, foldable. Same vanilla Android as the rest. Honor V-series - Foldable, offers latest specs (or near) (numbered) - Slightly behind-the-times hardware, cheaper X-series - Extreme bargain phones Motorola E-series - The phone you get when you can't spend more than $100 G-series - Affordable line, usually decent specs for the price but can vary. 6+" Edge - Midrange, does not use top-of-the-line hardware, but priced to compete. Defined by curved edge screen. RAZR - Foldable, high-end phone Nothing Phone - From the ashes of Essential comes... Nothing. These phones are generally flashy, but the substance under the hood is aimed at the upper end OnePlus (numbered) - Defined by "high power," these have SUPERVOOC charging, Hasselblad camera arrays (don't get too excited, it's licensing), and an unreasonable amount of RAM Nord - this series is geared toward the mid-range buyer looking for somewhat beefier specs Samsung Galaxy S - Flagship phone line. This will boast the latest specs, water-resistance, features Galaxy Z Fold - Flagship foldable. Similar to above. Folds out into a larger screen Galaxy Z Flip - A foldable phone, but instead of getting huge, it's more like a flip phone from the 2000s. Galaxy A - This series is the mid-range series, with middling hardware and typically some flavour of Exynos chip. You'll see a billion of these at stores. Galaxy M - Entry-level phones, mainly designed to offer something cheap to hook people in who couldn't otherwise afford to. Sony Xperia 5 - The "value" line, which is still about 1k$. Latest hardware, 6-inch screen, solid camera. Xperia 1 - The flagship line, similar hardware to the 5, but better display, some features Xperia 10 - The entry-level line. This has some of the features of the above, but below $500 typically. Xperia Pro - This thing is yoked up and ready to stand in for filmmakers and other content creators. Like the other Xperia phones, this one's very expensive. TCL: Look, these are basically all mid-level MT chipset devices that are on the more affordable side of things. But there's a ton of 'em. I'm tired. There are, of course, countless other brands, but these are some of the more notable ones. When should I buy a phone? Typically, the big release seasons are in May and September. During these releases you may see companies trying to clear old stock, offering deals to upgrade via trade-in, or... nothing. But in general unless you're dead-set on getting a new phone right away, you may want to pump the breaks on it until June or October/November. Mr. Mercury fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 06:30
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[Reserved for Goon crowd wisdom]CaptainSarcastic posted:a long-running evaluation of different phone manufacturers and how good they are about Android updates. It also supports that Motorola is just stunningly bad about updates, and has been for years now: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3687640/android-13-upgrade-report-card.html Mr. Mercury fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Sep 18, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 06:30
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I love iPhones
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Sep 15, 2023 06:57
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The new thread is desperately needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Sep 15, 2023 07:00
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Just wanted to mention I think you missed a line on the Pixels, and have text that seems to refer to the Fold following the Pro line. And I don't know if you want to include it, but a note that Motorola (since they were bought by Lenovo) has worst-in-class support for their phones might be a good idea. If you care about updates at all, having a warning might be helpful.
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Sep 15, 2023 07:10
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CaptainSarcastic posted:Just wanted to mention I think you missed a line on the Pixels, and have text that seems to refer to the Fold following the Pro line.  you're right, I did. Thanks for pointing it out! And will include, thank you again
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Sep 15, 2023 07:13
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Pixel Warriors represent
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Sep 15, 2023 07:19
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I wonder what the pack in offer will be with the pixel 8/8 pro. I got some Bose nc700s with my 6 pro, and my wife is upgrading her 4a later this year.
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Sep 15, 2023 07:59
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Samsung OneUI is really good and the haters should all just get iphones
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Sep 15, 2023 09:25
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Can anyone advise me on what usb-c cable to buy please
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Sep 15, 2023 09:36
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You linked to the dead android apps thread, not the current one: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3751764 Somebody fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 10:05
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What do you guys think of capacitive vs on screen buttons?
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Sep 15, 2023 10:21
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Screen is king. And hidden.
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Sep 15, 2023 10:25
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Calling the common smartphone form a brick is a slight against the venerable Nokia brick. 
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Sep 15, 2023 11:11
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The A54 5G is still the go-to midranger when esim support is one of the must haves?
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Sep 15, 2023 12:03
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XIII posted:What do you guys think of capacitive vs on screen buttons? give me a goddamn physical keyboard back 
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Sep 15, 2023 13:20
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Aware posted:Screen is king. And hidden. Now that I've gotten used to the gestures, I can't go back, need every pixel, on my pixel.
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Sep 15, 2023 13:54
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What about Xiaomi? Sony just hosed off from my country and there's no OnePlus, Pixel, etc
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Sep 15, 2023 14:07
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XIII posted:What do you guys think of capacitive vs on screen buttons? What are buttons? Gestures4lyfe
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Sep 15, 2023 14:27
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VictualSquid posted:You linked to the dead android apps thread, not the current one: Excellent, thank you Negostrike posted:What about Xiaomi? Sony just hosed off from my country and there's no OnePlus, Pixel, etc Will add in a bit, was exhausted last night- when I got down to X alphabetically I just flatlined Mr. Mercury fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 15:06
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So Question, I have an iPhone 13 , the battery kinda sucks. Xfinity Mobiles offering a nice trade in package for the 15, Its valid till Oct 10th. Battery life is near the top of the list of features I want I had heard that the Pixel 7 had some issues how's the 8 looking, should I wait?
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Sep 15, 2023 15:31
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Pixel 2 still going strong with LineageOS. Rooting isn't necessary but it's so easy on Pixel phones that I did it for AdAway and to fix that weird issue where the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter doesn't operate at full volume. Better Battery Stats says I'm at around 80% of maximum from the last time I did a battery replacement a couple years ago. If Fairphone is still doing well after this battery wears out I'll probably give one of those a shot, although I'm noticing the USB-C dropping connection when I'm using headphones so that might be the part that wears out first.
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Sep 15, 2023 15:58
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Negostrike posted:What about Xiaomi? Sony just hosed off from my country and there's no OnePlus, Pixel, etc Are there still Nokia branded phones?
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Sep 15, 2023 16:08
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Coxswain Balls posted:Pixel 2 still going strong with LineageOS. Rooting isn't necessary but it's so easy on Pixel phones that I did it for AdAway and to fix that weird issue where the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter doesn't operate at full volume. Better Battery Stats says I'm at around 80% of maximum from the last time I did a battery replacement a couple years ago. If Fairphone is still doing well after this battery wears out I'll probably give one of those a shot, although I'm noticing the USB-C dropping connection when I'm using headphones so that might be the part that wears out first. Not to stop you if you want to try something new, but replacing USB ports is generally a pretty easy repair with parts from eBay or iFixit and instructions from YouTube
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Sep 15, 2023 16:19
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Grumpwagon posted:Not to stop you if you want to try something new, but replacing USB ports is generally a pretty easy repair with parts from eBay or iFixit and instructions from YouTube I hate the process of disassembling electronics that are glued together, which is why I paid to have uBreakiFix do the battery replacement when my first one was worn out. That way it's someone's else's problem if something goes wrong with the heat gun or spudger; in my case they footed the bill when the glue for the first reassembly didn't cure right.  Being able to do my own maintenance is another reason why the Fairphone looks appealing to me. My current device still feels great to me so even if it doesn't have current flagship specs I probably won't notice, as long as it has a camera that's just as good as this one. From what I understand most of the magic with photos is done with the Google camera app, so as long as I'm using that it should be more or less fine, yeah?
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Sep 15, 2023 16:45
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Flipperwaldt posted:If you're looking at them because you think Samsung butchers the OS or Motorola barely provides any of the promised updates, then boy have I news for you about Xiaomi. Actually using a Nokia G50 right now, they're still on the market but mainly in the low-mid segment. Update policy is pretty decent too, 3 years of security updates and 2-3 OS version upgrades and virtually no bloatware.
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Sep 15, 2023 17:09
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Coxswain Balls posted:I hate the process of disassembling electronics that are glued together, which is why I paid to have uBreakiFix do the battery replacement when my first one was worn out. Fair enough! Every time I do a repair I get to a point where I'm sure it will never work again, but those parts are pretty robust. So far it has always worked out, but I can totally understand wanting it to be someone else's problem.
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Sep 15, 2023 17:22
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Not gonna lie, replacing a screen on a broken asus phone where I had to disassemble the entire loving thing was an experience I'm not going through again. The nerds at the mall who do this for a living can earn the money, it only saved me like 200 bucks in exchange for a lot of frustration
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Sep 15, 2023 17:54
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Ground floor. See you all in a year or 8 when I finally replace my pixel.
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Sep 15, 2023 20:26
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iPhone user posting to say 10/10 thread title.
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Sep 15, 2023 20:33
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New thread, very cool and also a good thread title. Looking good for 2023!
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Sep 15, 2023 23:25
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That said, if the title should change go right ahead and post it We have fun here
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Sep 16, 2023 00:14
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I don't know if you want to add this to the secondary note section, but it's a long-running evaluation of different phone manufacturers and how good they are about Android updates. It also supports that Motorola is just stunningly bad about updates, and has been for years now: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3687640/android-13-upgrade-report-card.html
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Sep 16, 2023 00:27
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Hell yes I do!
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Sep 16, 2023 00:31
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First page hot take: once you go foldable you never go slab.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:54
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I don't see the appeal of foldables at all but it appears they're not going away yet
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Sep 16, 2023 02:51
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I 1000% see the appeal, I just don't think the designs are there yet.
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Sep 16, 2023 02:59
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Shrimp or Shrimps posted:First page hot take: once you go foldable you never go slab. I almost bought a z flip 5 today to replace my pixel 6 pro, but I changed my mind last second (it's too expensive)
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Sep 16, 2023 03:00
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Mr. Mercury posted:That said, if the title should change go right ahead and post it FistEnergy posted:I don't see the appeal of foldables at all but it appears they're not going away yet Android Thread: Know How To Fold 'Em
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Sep 16, 2023 03:03
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